Brad McKay faces SFA ban...

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...after calling Hearts striker Juanma Delgado a 'typical foreigner'.

 

THE St Johnstone defender is accused of an 'offensive comment' and has been hit by a notice of complaint.

 

BRAD McKAY is set to be hauled up in front of the SFA compliance officer over comments made about Hearts striker Juanma Delgado.

 

The St Johnstone defender referred the Spaniard as a “typical foreigner” after his side’s 4-3 defeat on the opening day of the season.

 

He has now been hit with a notice of complaint and will appear at Hampden on September 3 after the SFA deemed the comment offensive.

 

McKay said: “He’s a typical foreigner. He gets touched and goes down. He was holding the back of his head and rolling about.”

 

The defender only left Hearts in the summer to join St Johnstone after five years at Tynecastle.

 

But while McKay is in the dock for his comments, former SFA chief executive Gordon Smith had no action taken against him 2008 when he singled out Lithuanian footballers as more prone to cheating after Saulius Mikoliunas, who was then at Hearts, dived to win a penalty against Scotland.

 

He said: “It could be that he reverted to what is acceptable in Lithuania because he was playing for his national side, even though it's unacceptable here.

 

"I don't think the referee helped the situation, either, possibly because he comes from a country where that sort of behaviour isn't so frowned upon."

 

Meanwhile, down in England it seems to be taken as a given that foreign players are more likely to dive with numerous players and managers commenting on the matter.

 

In 2012 Sir Alex Ferguson made his position clear. He said: "We have known for quite a few years there are plenty of players diving and, you have to say, particularly foreign players."

 

Michael Owen and Hull boss Steve Bruce also blamed foreigners for the rise in diving in recent years.

 

Owen said: It's worse than it was 10 years ago with the foreign influence of players coming from South America, Spain and Italy."

 

Bruce said: “In Latin countries, it's applauded if you gain a penalty or free-kick. But the reason why people enjoy the Barclays Premier League, for me, is because of the honesty and integrity of it."

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brad-mckay-faces-sfa-ban-6267691